Part 5

Years.

From what he could tell, it has been several long years since he has been here.

Days were the same from morning to evening; they just seemed to pass by.

Older.

No longer a young child.

Now, what would one call a young teen.

Leaner.

Longer black hair that touched his shoulders

Wearing nothing but brown shorts and brown leather boots.

The young teen gripped the wooden knife with his right hand as he lightly shifted his left foot across the grass.

Training, if it could be called that.

Standing several feet from him with his arms crossed was Cassius.

He stood there in his armor, excluding his helmet, which gleamed off the sunlight.

His hair and cape were flowing behind him as he unfolded his arms, lowering them to his sides.

There was silence followed by a light breeze as both stared at each other.

"Come," Stern and direct, was his only response.

Like a trained animal, Alistair ran towards the man.

Leaping into the air, Alistair swung the knife, which caused the man to block the strike with his left forearm.

Both stared at each other before-

Cassius swatted Alistair’s arm with his right, which caused the teen's body to spin around clockwise as he extended his right leg out and attempted to hit the man.

The man lowered his head swiftly, letting the Alistair foot pass over his head.

The man smirked, pulling his head back and dodging the Alistair left-up kick.

The force of his miss caused him to flip backwards, landing on the ground.

(Don’t take your eyes off the enemy.)

Those words replayed in his mind.

Quickly, Alistair raised his head.

“Huh.”

Silence.

Alistair looked around.

Nothing.

Beside Alistair, the field was empty.

He began to look around as a slight breeze began to pick up, which rustled the grass.

There was a slight whooshing sound behind him.

His blind spot.

On instinct, he jumped forward.

Behind him, the heel of a foot slammed down into the ground, creating a crater in the ground.

Cassius.

With a stern look on his face, the man glanced up to see the child rolling away on the ground.

The man smirked.

Not giving Alistair a chance to recover, the man dashed towards Alistair.

He spun around, sliding his left foot, swiping at Alistair’s left hand.

Alistair used his right forearm to block a right back kick, causing a light shockwave.

(Hmmmm) Cassius narrowed his eyes.

He paused.

On the forearm Alistair used to block the kick, there was a flickering white and blue vein-like pattern.

Taking advantage of the man's hesitation, he pushed his leg away.

Alistair pulled his right hand back and clenched his fist.

His right arm felt like it was burning from the inside as the vein-like pattern traveled up his arm to his shoulder.

He took a step forward.

Energy Enhancement.

A basic technique among the races of Light-born and Dragon-born.

Using the energy within their bodies—blood vessels, nerves, and cells—can increase their physical capabilities tenfold.

Pushing energy out of their bodies to use was an ability unique to the race of Light-borns called Aura Manipulation.

Something small started to form above his palm.

Something he had seen others do—something that he should be able to do given that he was also part of the same race of Light Born.

But what he was about to do was different-

A small orb of energy.

(Just focus)

Alistair aimed his open palm at Cassius.

The orb began to become unstable, causing the child to wince.

(…No.)

Alistair closed his eyes.

(Just focus.)

The distorted orb began to take shape again.

Like a bullet, the orb was fired from the child’s palm towards the man.

No reaction.

Cassius's face was a blank emotion as-

With his left hand, Cassius grabbed his sword sheath, while his right hand grabbed the sword hilt.

Without so much as an outburst or any emotion, Cassius pulled the sword out, swinging upwards, and shattered the small orb into the small particles that breezed past his face.

Cassius right foot slid across the grass.

In a quick motion, Cassius flipped the sword in his hand so that he was holding his hilt outwards.

As quick as that was for Alistair, what followed was even quicker.

VVVVVSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH!!

Cassius vanished.

Alistair did not have any time to react before-

Something had hit him, lifting him off his feet.

Cassius struck Alistair's midsection with the sword hilt.

Blood flew out of his open mouth as his body flew off the handle.

Alistair landed, his back crashing on the grassy ground with a grunt.

With several coughs, Alistair grabbed his midsection.

Pain.

Training.

That is what this was called.

Just another day.

Outside on a not-so-busy sidewalk stood Alistair, Aurelius, Valeria, and Camellia.

A voice spoke out.

"Alright, I think I have a plan." Alistair said, as Haruko and Aoi were walking down the stairs, up to the group.

Everyone turned their attention to Alistair.

"If this giant sigil is to be taken seriously at face value, then there are five major points within this spell, excluding the anchoring point at the center. Based on time and travel restraints, that leaves three that are accessible within the remaining time we have left."

"Three?" Haruko asked.

"We only need to weaken the spell, and we can do that by destroying the individual markings. Since there are five points, destroying three will throw the spell off, hopefully long enough to destroy the anchoring points.

"So, how are we doing this?" Aurelius asked.

"We're going to split up. We must make a lot of assumptions now, and assuming that he is not done with the preparations for his spell, he'll be at one location or another. If he is not done, then he will be at the Bronx point setting up the final marking."

"All the more reason why we should converge on that particular point." Aurelius said.

"There is a possibility that he has already marked that location during the time we have been here; if that is the case, then he is most likely either at or on his way to Manhattan."

There was silence in the group.

"Valeria, you will head to the Bronx point."

"Copy." Valeria cheerfully replied.

"Aurelius, you Camellia and Aoi will take the two points in queens, with you taking the morgue and the girls taking the bay; granted, you guys have a method to get there."

Aoi swallowed her food.

Sighing, Aurelius spoke.

"I can probably pull out something." Aurelius began walking away from the group before stopping a few feet away, facing away from the group.

Swinging his hammer on the ground with enough force to cause several light cracks on the sidewalk, he began to speak.

Haruko watched on, even though all he heard from the man was muttering, as a brown magic sigil was etched on the ground in front of him.

Then-

At the formation of a magic sigil, the circle was engulfed by a bright white light before the light shattered apart like glass.

Wings.

An elongated neck

A beak.

The teen looked at the creature as it stood there.

A giant bird.

Brown feathers.

Large wings

Green eyes, which stared at the teen.

A brown sigil started to sketch itself on the ground in front of Aurelius.

"The point in Jamaica Bay is probably the trickiest one, since there isn’t a morgue anywhere near the established point, which means it is going to be marked somewhere else but nearby.

Haruko moved closer.

"Wait, hold on, you are going to send her there?"

"Yes, the point is surrounded by a body of water; no one in this group can work better in that element than her."

Haruko calmed himself down, as he knew that was true.

Haruko turned to Aoi, who had her eyes closed and was smugly grinning.

A look of annoyance appeared on Haruko's face, causing him to look away.

"What about you?" Camellia asked Alistair.

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Haruko and I will head to the anchoring point, which should be somewhere in Central Park.

"What? Do you know how big that park is? There is no way we can search the entire park with the two of us." Haruko complained.

"Well, we are going to have to. If the Mana Blade comes into play, you and I are the only ones that can fight him, given that our abilities aren’t magic-based."

Haruko turned to Aoi.

"I'm begging you; don’t do anything stupid, please."

Aoi smiled at the teen, folding her arms.

"No promises."

Haruko quickly turned to Aoi.

"You think this is a joke!!" Haruko shouted at her.

Aoi, closing her eyes, clasps her hands together.

With a soft exhale, Aoi pulled her hands apart, her hands shaking as if something were holding them together.

In the center of her palms was a small, spinning ball of water with ridges.

As she pulled her hands further apart, the ball of water increased in size to the point that it was touching the ground and looming over her.

The ball began to violently spin as Aoi lowered her left arm to her side. As her right fingers lightly touched the ball, it began to shrink.

Aoi stuck her right hand inside, all the way down below her elbow.

She tightly closed her hand into a fist, which caused the water sphere to explode with a light shockwave.

Haruko lowered his arms, shielding his face.

As the sound of water droplets hitting the ground rang out, another unnatural sound could be heard.

Something that sounded like purring.

Light blue in color, white eyes, four wings

".... Wow." Camellia said as she watched on.

"That’s pretty impressive," Alistair said.

Kneeling on the ground in front of Aoi was a light blue dragon made of solid water, moving its tail, flexing its wings, and sniffing the girl's palm before she removed her hand to rub its head.

As everyone watched on in amazement, Alistair turned to Haruko.

"Can you do that?" Alistair asked Haruko, who lowered his head.

"No," Haruko replied grumpily.

"Well then, it seems that we have to try a different method."

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[Next stop, Harlem 125th Street.]

The announcement came from a speaker overhead.

The Sky Train.

A massive, high-speed above-ground, six-car rail service that sprawled the entire city. Unlike the basic subway, which served 472 stations across all five boroughs, the sky train only served ten major hub stations across the city.

Manhattan: Harlem 125th Street, Grand Central 42nd Street, with a short transfer to Times Square 42nd Street and Madison Square Garden.

Brooklyn-Flushing Ave. and Canarsie-Rockaway Parkway

Queens-Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Avenue/74th Street station and Sutphin Blvd.-Archer Avenue-JFK Airport

Staten Island-Saint George Terminal.

And the Bronx.

161st Street, Yankee Stadium, and 3rd Ave., 149th Street.

Heavy breaths and panting broke out in the near-empty car.

Two teens sat across from each other in the cushioned blue seats.

Haruko Matsumoto and Alistair Michaels.

Right now, the duo was crossing the Harlem River into Manhattan.

Out of breath and heavily panting, Haruko sat across from Alistair in the near-empty rail car.

The rays from the afternoon sun beamed through the train window, shrouding Haruko in light like an angelic portrait, even as he was taking several deep breaths while Alistair sat in the shaded part of the train car.

Staring at Haruko, Alistair grinned.

"Wow, a mad dash of twenty blocks in 10 minutes to catch this train is enough to leave you winded. I hope you never have to encounter an enemy with enhanced speed."

"Go...fuck.......yourself." Haruko said through his wheezing, staring at the ceiling of the rail car, resting the back of his head on the glass window behind him, which caused Alistair to smirk.

There were a few seconds of silence between the two, beyond the sound of the train speeding along, before Alistair spoke.

"So, your powers......" Alistair started, which caused Haruko to lower his head and stare at him.

"How are you with them?"

A depressed look appeared on Haruko's face.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. I haven’t even processed all of this. My place in all this is what's become of me, or if what Aoi said is true, what has become of my soul...." Haruko said, clenching his shirt near his chest. "And don’t even get me started on my small understanding of these powers."

"You have been doing training, right?"

"I mean, if you want to call it that, it's more Aoi telling me how my powers should be and me figuring out by myself how to do everything."

There were a few seconds of silence between the two as Haruko gathered himself.

"I know that all in all, five days isn’t much to get used to with powers of this caliber, but I am not completely inept with these abilities, if that is what you are worried about."

"It is just that there is no telling what he might come at us with; if that is the case, do you think that you can be prepared to fight him with your own abilities?"

Once again, silence against the sound of the train speeding along to Manhattan.

"Probably, I'm not sure what is going to happen should I cross paths with him again, but right now he is someone who has to be taken care of before the world and everyone I care about get thrown into chaos, so I can probably pull something out."

(Well, it’s a start) Alistair thought, smirking.

BUUZZZZZ!

What brought him out of his thoughts was a vibrating feeling in his left pants pockets.

Reaching into his pockets, Alistair pulled out a gray flip phone. Staring at the caller ID, which was nothing but a long chain of numbers, he answered the phone.

"Yeah, go ahead."

[Yeah, the point you had me go to…..]

Valeria stood on top of a building ledge, staring down at a building across the street that was surrounded by vehicles from the police and the Tactical Response Team.

The entire street was closed off by orange cones and caution tape.

[This might be much more complicated than we thought.]

Haruko watched as Alistair chatted away on the phone.

"I see. In the meantime, stay posted," Alistair said.

"What happened?" Haruko asked.

"It seems that in the time that we have been busy, he moved to strike the morgue in the Bronx; the building is evacuated, and the street is currently closed off right now."

"Damnit again," Haruko said, gritting his teeth and gripping his knees tighter.

"Wait...."

Haruko paused.

"You said the police and T.R.T." Haruko said, fumbling for his phone out of his jacket pocket.

Staring at Haruko, Alistair spoke.

"What are you doing?"

"It's a long shot, but it is better than nothing." Haruko said, going through his contact list before clicking on the number and placing the phone in his right ear.

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Everything about the scene she was walking through was chaotic.

Flashing red and blue lights.

Loud sirens

Agent Maria Holm.

A red-headed vixen dressed in tactical gear, with her weapon hanging off her right shoulder.

New vehicles and reporters.

Helicopters overhead.

Dogs barking.

EMS.

Police

Anti-Terrorism Task Force.

Tactical Response Team.

Various chatter between multiple departments, agencies, and departments across the city.

Apparently, the wanted intruder that has kept the city on edge was spotted, causing the chaotic scene.

Walking back to her black four-door SUV, she opened the driver's side door. Unclasping and taking off her helmet, she tossed it into the front passenger seat.

As she was about to close the car door, a phone in the vehicle on the dashboard began to ring, causing her to sigh and groan as she moved to answer the call. Picking up the phone, she placed it in her left ear.

"Agent Holm,” Maria said in an authoritative tone.

[He....hello.] Haruko said in a shaky and nervous voice.

Suddenly, there was a groan that escaped her lips as she recognized the voice on the other end.

Hearing this, Haruko spoke.

[I haven’t even said anything yet.]

"Yes, that is true, but whenever you pop up, it usually means more paperwork that follows, and I don't need another headache right now."

Now it was Haruko's turn to let out a groan.

[Anyway, if possible, can you put Kazuhiro on?]

"No can do, your uncle is off today.

[Really?] Haruko asked in a puzzled tone. [So, it is just you at the crime scene in the Bronx.]

Maria paused.

"H-how do you know that?"

[Uhm.....uhm....] Haruko was stumbling on his words: [Uh....a lucky guess. That attack—this is about the murders that the city intruder has been committing and the murders that were committed just now?] Haruko asked

There were a few seconds of silence from Maria before she smirked.

"Well, it seems your luck finally ran out; there was no murder committed.”

[Wait, really,] Haruko said surprisingly.

"Hold on, were you expecting that there would be a murder?"

[Without sounding insensitive, yes.]

Haruko pulled the phone from his ear.

"Hey, Alistair, at that spot, no one was murdered.”

Alistair went wide-eyed at that statement in shock and disbelief.

“You’re joking?”

“Based on what is being told to me, it is true.”

“So, there is a possibility that the building was marked itself.”

“Hold on, let me see.” Haruko said as he placed the phone to his ear. “Hey, what happened there anyway?”

[As it stands right now, witness statements and camera footage show the suspect entered the premises, wielding a knife.]

"Then what happened?"

[The individual ran past them in a manic state, swinging the knife, and began carving at a wall. During the confusion, the workers escaped and called the police.]

“…Carving…..the wall.” Haruko spoke slowly, trying to comprehend what she had said.

[We conducted a sweep of the building but didn’t turn up anyth-]

Maria stopped talking.

[Wait, why am I telling you anything?]

“Because you love me.” Haruko said it jokingly.

[Don’t push it.]

"Back to the point in hand, that thing he carved into walls-"

[A symbol, though I am not well versed in that topic.]

A symbol.

That is what they need to destroy.

"Is it possible that you can destroy it or tamper wi-"

Maria had firmly cut him before he completed his sentence.

[You know damn well that you can't ask for something like that; the symbol is being treated as evidence, but enough of that, why are you so interested in this?]

".....My school paper.” Haruko half-heartedly replied.

A look of annoyance appeared on her face as she heard that bold lie.

[Riiiiigth, and I am supposed to believe that lie.]

After a few seconds of silence, Haruko spoke.

“I know.” Haruko said, sighing.

“And even if I wanted to destroy the crudely made symbol because it irks me in some way, it is now being guarded by the anti-terrorism squad, who have the building locked down.”

There were a few seconds of silence before she spoke again.

[Listen, I have to go, so I will be hanging up now and finishing my work here. When you see your uncle, tell him I said hi, and you should stay out of trouble even though it sounds like you are about to do something I am pretty sure is stupid.]

At the sound of the call-end tone, Haruko placed the phone and his hands on his laps.

He rested the back of his against the glass window, staring up at the ceiling, feeling defeated as he felt the vibrations of the speeding train.

This guy.

Anatoli Azarov.

In such a short time, he managed to throw the city into turmoil and chaos.

On one hand, there were those trying to stop him-

On another, those who were moving toward the idea of war.

And this guy was the cause of it.

With a soft exhale, Haruko spoke in a low tone.

“This guy, this whole ordeal…. I just want it to end already.”

“You and me, both.” Alistair replied.

“Him sneaking into the city, being on the run, my fight with him. It seems that whatever anyone does, he is always one step ahead of everybody.” Haruko said it in a defeated tone.

"He is not wasting any more time, physically placing the marking there himself. I am not sure what his endgame is, but he is getting pretty desperate to finish his spell." Alistair stated

Haruko did not reply.

"Haruko, with all of us here on one goal, we are going to stop him," Alistair said in a soft voice to reassure the teen. "We are going to stop him."

Haruko clenched his fist.

"Yeah."

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The sun had started to set.

One foot in front of the other.

It was such an easy task; one would pull it off without thinking about it, but-

His legs felt wobbly.

Alistair.

It took everything just to stand up straight.

Today’s training was brutal, to say the least, but-

Right now, he felt as if he was dragging along an even more broken body.

“Your back” A female child shouted out as Cassius and Alistair entered the encampment zone.

-all that seemed to vanish when they entered.

Bright blue eyes.

Black hair that was parted right.

A bright smile lightened up this gloomy area.

Through the pain he was feeling, Alistair lightly smiled as the child approached the duo.

He couldn’t appear weak—not in front of her.

She was wearing a long blue dress that fell to her ankles, with white sleeves from her shoulder to her wrist. Brown leather shoes that were held together by a small rope. She was wearing a gold-colored necklace, and attached to that necklace was a circular pendant.

On that small pendant was a large, four-pointed star with a carving of a lion at the center to represent their deity.

Leo, solis deus (Latin trans. Lion God of the Sun.)

Alistair lightly smiled at the approaching woman.

His sister.

Vivian.

Once just a small infant, now just a child, just a few inches short of him.

“Are you free right now?” Vivian asked.

Alistair paused.

He wasn’t sure how to answer that.

He simply turned his head towards Cassius, who simply smirked.

“I think we will call quits for today,” Cassius said, pulling his large lion along with his right hand.

Alistair paused.

“Are you sure?”

Cassius lightly smiled at Alistair.

“If life had taught me anything beyond this cold reality, it is that tomorrow is not guaranteed. Whatever moment of peace we can get, enjoy it fully, no matter how small it is.”

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“…….And then I caught several fish in the river……”

Alistair sat there with his sister on a grassy hill overlooking a forest.

His sister was saying something, but right now his focus was somewhere else.

Two moons.

An ocean of stars.

The night sky.

It was just like-

His face lightly winced as the memories of the Dragon-born attack on his village popped up in his mind.

As much as he wanted to forget that day, it is a part of him now.

The reason for their lives now.

The reason they were here.

The reason-

Alistair glanced at his sister before looking away.

He removed his bandaged right hand from his waist, staring at the blood-stained bandage.

-He trained so hard the way he did.

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Loud, heavy breathing could be heard over the calm serenity of the grassy field.

There was loud coughing from Alistair as he was on his hands and knees, trying to catch his breath.

A small trickle of blood fell from the corner of his mouth.

He moved his right hand to his midsection.

Pain.

After being hit in the midsection. with Cassius sword hilt, that was what he was feeling right now through his heavy breaths.

Cassius simply stared at Alistair as he put his black sword back into his sheath without saying a word.

Cassius walked to a small boulder.

“Light-borns and Dragon-borns......”

Cassius started to speak.

“In this world, there are several races, but the two most proficient with energy are those two. Dragon-borns can use their energy outward, creating Chi energy, while Light-borns are able to use theirs inward, pushing outward, creating Aura energy. Both allow them to enhance one’s capabilities within their bodies: strength, speed, and reflexes.”

Cassius parted his cape and sat down on the rock.

“The energy to do that comes from the soul. As I told you before, we have an energy level that was decided at birth and does not change. Normally, energy that we expend for our abilities as Light-borns returns to us after some time, but you are a different case, anything you expend as aura will not come back to you.”

“!”

Alistair raised his head to stare at the man.

“Now do understand. While not a complete soul, this broken amalgamation of what used to be your soul and your mother soul now is what your body is using to stay alive, but since you give off no energy, essentially making you an invisible person.”

Through loud breaths, Alistair spoke

“….How?”

“Beyond sight, there are other ways a hunter preys: vibrations in the ground, sound. There are various methods, but people stick with the one that they are familiar with. For us Light-borns and the Dragon-borns it is a method of energy sensing. It is an innate ability that is ingrained into our very being; the more we hone it, the more we rely on it without thinking about it.”

Alistair moved to a sitting position.

“My current enemies are the Dragon-borns in power, from The Dragon King to his lackeys. Because of how specific that list is, I know what their capabilities are. Every Dragon-born possesses the ability for Chi manipulation, but those that can do it at their highest degree are brought into the central city to join the Lóng zhī zhìxù (Chinese trans. Dragon Order, The Order of the Dragon.)

Cassius stared at Alistair, who was staring back at him, trying to comprehend what he was saying.

“Chi manipulation is different from Aura manipulation as it is much more physical than spiritual; both require great mental fortitude to pull off. I can tell that you are having a hard time understanding what I am saying. You don’t have to take in everything all at once, but given time, you will understand your role in all of this.”

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“Hey, I’m talking to you, big brother.”

Vivian's voice interrupted his thoughts.

Alistair glanced at her before lightly smiling.

“What is so funny?” Vivian said, pouting.

"Nothing,” Alistair said, turning his head away.

“Well, it is about time we headed back.”

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Alistair lightly smiled, brushing off his knees, before standing up.

The two began walking down the path.

Off in the distance, at the corner of his left eye, Alistair saw something walking along the tree line beyond the river outside the encampment zone.

He could tell that it was a person just by its outward appearance.

Pale white skin.

The person had long white hair, but nearby bushes made it difficult to gauge how long.

Its clothes were nothing special, something similar to what one would wear to bed.

White.

Baggy.

Loose.

A person was walking by, but Alistair could not avert his eyes.

There was something about this person that he could not explain; perhaps it was the feeling of being out of place that allured his curiosity.

"Hey, come on.” Vivian shouted out as she stood several feet away from the path, waving her right. arm above her head

Finally, Alistair was able to look away and began walking towards his sister, with that strange encounter as nothing more than an afterthought.

An afterthought of a man in white.